If reincarnation with clear memories was possible, then Furi Kana supposed that having the same flame affinity as what caused your death wasn't so far off as well. Letting the static electricity tingle up her arm, she observed the little crackles of green in amusement before closing her palm,
"Now… What experiment should I do first?"
For her who had at least two months until kindergarten to waste, it was pretty obvious which. Running out of her room to steal her mother's camera, a light bulb, and the kitchen clock, she grinned devilishly,
"To play with lightning, one must learn to not get shocked first."
…
Elettrico Cuoio, meaning Electric Leather in Italian, was developed when Lambo was struck by lightning many times, changing his physiology into one that could conduct electricity. It wasn't a Bovino technique since Lambo's physiology was changed so therefore she should be able to recreate its effects. Kana hummed as she pushed the camera button to start recording, blue eyes gleaming as this experiment could help her test manga physics and limits as well.
"This is Day 1 Attempt 1 of the Elettrico Cuoio Experiment." She enunciated as clearly as possible with her toddler voice, holding a lightbulb with a hand towel in one hand and then moving down her swimming goggles with the other. Concentrating, she sparked her hands and beamed at the light generated, albeit dim. She focused harder on her intent, watching in glee as the lightbulb lit brighter and brighter until her forgotten arm muscles spasmed and glass exploded with its collision to the ground.
"Ittei!" Kana gritted her teeth, assessing the damage as she hurriedly stepped on the stool behind her and shoved her hand into the cold water bath prepared in the sink. Luckily, she was already short and near the ground so the shards didn't fly everywhere. That would have been a nightmare to clean up. The scent of burnt flesh wafted in her face and she gagged, especially upon looking down to see the little cuts contrast against nasty burns.
As she saw her fingers twitch and then looked up to see her pearly whites still flashed in an excited smirk though, she realized that never once had she thought about giving up.
"Seven minutes and fifty seconds. Lasted longer than it would have in another world. Judging relatively, the pain and damage must be less as well, making bodies more durable here. On a Likert scale with 5 as extremely painful, it was a 3.5."
She laughed as she reached over to the camera for the second attempt, musing aloud.
"Then again, it's not like I have anything else to do, huh?"
If boredom accompanied sanity, then she was fine with being mad with pain.
…
One Week Later
Kana stared in horror at the white ceiling of the hospital, remembering instantly how she gotten into the dreadful peace building. "Note to self. Even if it feels okay and numb, twitching hand means possible spasms and weak grip."
"Hahaha, at least now we know that our little princess should never become a handyman, right~?"
Indeed, upon accidentally short-circuiting the ceiling light bulbs in her intensifying experiment, she had moved a ladder into the bathroom to replace them, but lost grip and fell down. Luckily, she had landed on her legs and not head. Unluckily, her legs were weak and fractured under force. It was only due to both parents returning back home late that she had managed to process and hide all her data in time as well as turn the switch on so that it looked like she shocked her hand while trying to screw on the light bulb.
"Mou, don't tease her, Papa. Just because she calls you Bakaou now, doesn't mean that you can be mean to your little girl."
Bakaou. An insult shared between her mother and her when the next day after being locked outside, Pap— Takeo — had bought a closet full of coffee machines for coffee security purposes. It was touted as a genius plan by the patriarch of the family. Her mother proved otherwise by mercilessly throwing out all the coffee beans immediately after.
Of course, Bakaou bought only thirteen locks, multiple chains, and five bags labeled 'unlimited coffee beans' the day after that. He thanked them for helping him make his coffee fix infinite, foolproof, kidproof, and doubt-proof.
Subsequently, the nickname became official.
"Next time, wait for us to come home, alright, Kana?"
Kana nodded, and then arched a brow when they looked up, saw the time, and instantly vanished for another day of work without a moment's pause. "Such dependable parents." She deadpanned before returning to staring at the ceiling, arms crossed into a pillow behind her.
"Day 7 of the Elettrico Cuoio Experiment continued the trend of increasing amounts of tolerance over trials, but I'm developing duration immunity and not intensity. Future Lambo says that he can store over 1,000,000 volts yet I'm still nowhere near that stage — both storing electricity or resisting that many volts. Since it's already been this long, I should try something new to try boosting up the results significantly. It shouldn't take this long."
"Geh… I'm bored…" Kana complained upon finishing her analysis of her last set of trials. Now complete with her list of things to do, she was even more aware with her lack of mobility.
"Really? Me too! Want to play a game?"
"..." The literally reborn child glanced to the side at her roommates in the children's ward and then the Jenga tower being built. She smirked, "Sure! But just warning you, I'm the best at this game."
"Ha! No one's better than me!" A big kid boasted.
"Remember you said that."
…
Ten minutes later
"Hey! Remember what you said?!" Seeing the boys only cry even louder, Kana struggled harder appealing, "They challenged me! And I won — Why would I throw a fit and throw blocks at them if I won?! Ma'am—"
"That's enough from you, young lady. I don't even know how you smuggled that loud dangerous game into this peaceful, quiet hospital, but I'm confiscating it. All of your roommates said that they want you out so naturally we're switching you to another room as well."
"It's not mine!" Seeing the adult face of disbelief, she growled, "Just for the record — I did nothing wrong. Mark. My. Words!"
"Yes, yes."
"Damn it! Listen to me—"
"Yes, yes."
"Fine! Be that way! You'll regret this! All of you are dead to me!"
As the nurse left to get the wheelchair, the other kids nervously whispered to each other.
"Dead? What does she mean?"
"Just a figure of speech! I mean, she's just a crippled kid — what can she do to us?"
"Yeah, it's not like she's going to murder us."
"But that unnatural way she won all the time… I mean we're a lot older than her! How could we lose?"
Kana's ears twitched, wondering why people assumed that whispers automatically meant 'no one else could hear them'. When she heard the nurse's footsteps come back, she whispered eerily herself though,
"Sore losers, beware. Dead."
…
"Here you are. Please don't bother the other patients."
"Hmph." She scoffed at the woman's condescending tone before gazing to her side and then jolting at the critically injured man, "Doctor? What? I just saw you healthy moments ago — What happened to you?"
"It's to my great belief that Hibari-kun has done so much for this hospital for it to still run so smoothly."
"...My condolences." "...No way… He's already beginning to take over places?! Ryohei looked just one to two years older than me — How can—"
"Thank you." The Doctor tearfully spoke and Kana closed her eyes, deciding that a nap would be best. Unfortunately, the man didn't and decided to converse eagerly with his new roommate. She warily responded back, remembering that this was the hospital Sawada got sent to a suspicious area to, later afterwards.
…
"So around 375 Volts?"
"Yes." The man answered, arching a brow at the girl's sudden interest in the conversation upon hearing about heart monitors, shocks, and defibrillators. Now that he thought about it, she certainly made good company — despite being three years old. She was definitely mature, smart, and confident like that—
He shivered as he wondered if she was a prodigy like that Hibari kid that 'bit' him to death and talked about carnivore-herbivore relationships. Decisively, he determined that teaching one child the truth about biology and ecology was best before she was influenced by whatever schools were teaching now.
The door slid open. "Doctor—"
"More importantly, you should know that in a population of wild animals, carnivores—"
"More importantly? Carnivore? NO, Doctor, don't quit your job! You still have so much to do! This is all your fault, young lady!"
"HAH?!"
"You're moving out of here this minute! First brainwashing little kids into thinking that they'll be murdered and now brainwashing our best doctor to wanting to teach biology for a living— What was I thinking, putting a little she-demon with him?"
Said man stared flabbergasted at his head nurse's accusation as she forced the girl on her wheelchair and began rolling her out backwards. He wished the nurse did it properly as the girl's glare portrayed his failure in explanation and an imminent world of herbivorous pain.
"What was she talking about… But that timing… Maybe I wasn't meant to stop that little girl from… being a carnivore. Fate…? I'm… Am I really meant to be a herbivore…?" Then he shivered as he still felt the aches in his beaten bones, "Sacrifice… I need to sacrifice someone… If… No, I am a weak herbivore under carnivore command… I must listen to Hibari-kun and that girl… I must obey and offer sacrifices to avoid being bitten…"
…
"Damn it, woman. Next thing I know, you'll make another ridiculous accusation and send me to a room of inexplicable origin filled with experiments and crap."
"We don't have a room like that, but nice idea. It'll fit perfectly for horrible children like you."
"..."
The door slammed as the woman stormed out to tend to the doctor. Kana stared and then plopped back to her pillow, calming as she stared at the ceiling of her own private room.
"Did she seriously create it later? And Reborn took advantage of it? Was I the cause for the hospital turning into that that chapter?" Kana idly remembered the manga, "Nah… It couldn't be. Poor Tsuna though."
Tired from arguing with the nurse, she yawned and nearly fell asleep. As a believer of doing things today rather than tomorrow (especially when one was bored) though, she reached for her wheelchair and wheeled out. The next day she would hear about flickering lights, ghost whispers, static surveillance cameras, and flat-lining heart monitors unplugged to really nothing. Everyone would be convinced that it was a large elaborate prank done by three boys as ghost stories were impossible.
Well, everyone except the Doctor, who believed harder in the necessity of sacrificing patients.
…
One Month Later
Elettrico Cuoio, meaning Electric Leather in Italian, was developed when Lambo was struck by lightning many times, changing his physiology into one that could conduct electricity. What was really meant by Lambo's changed physiology though was his hair. Future Lambo had straight hair. Child Lambo did not. Why?
Because the lightning's high heat exploded his hair, giving Lambo more surface area and subsequently resistance. With how his hair became hotter, the added temperature also added to his resistance — in addition to his hair's bulbous shape, already small body size, jump into the air upon being hit, and 'Gaman' pose resembling the Lightning Crouch (each of which minimized contact).
Taking into consideration exaggerated manga physics, it could also be said that the reason why Lambo's afro was a hammerspace was because the stored electricity destabilized the atoms of the things he placed inside, reducing size until he pulled them out. That hypothesis was only just that though, and required further examination and possibly, later studies when the actual kid was there.
Either way, the key to both Elettrico Cuoio and hammerspace was in the afro.
"Which I do not want." Kana sighed in depression as she let a spark of lightning flames fly between her fingers while she lugged her new equipment to the backyard. Thus, she was going to take the long way of gaining immunity.
Stabbing the ground around her with metal rods, she placed on an afro wig she bought (against her inner fashion) and closed her eyes. Not wanting her goggles to melt on her, she would let the camera do the full story-telling later a very safe distance away.
"The key was to be fully exposed to a large strike of lightning, higher than the ones I've been applying to (mainly) my arm inside. Lambo's immunity really was achieved over long durations of times and multiple lightning strike encounters. Since exposed does not mean the same thing as applied like I have been doing. He was not actually getting hit by the full brunt all the time." Making sure that the afro covered all hair, she breathed in deeply, "No, he gained his resistance slowly until in the future, he did not need his afro, and then twenty years after that, the technique was complete."
"This is Day 1 Attempt 1 of the Elettrico Cuoio Experiment Part 2."
And then the world roared as she shot out green lightning flames to the metal rod before her, feeling it contact and then surge outwards to the other rods behind her. She could feel tingles around her body and a wave of electrons riding over her charged back to their set destinations. Minutes passed and as planned there was barely any pain even with the more intense crackles of energy saturating the air around her as all the lightning became an electromagnetic dome.
"Lightning is a billion volts in one instant."
Grinning, she focused on her flames, thinking of the result — of her wish to complete this project for the many more awaiting afterwards. To gain immunity was to gain the right to control — to play with—
Boom.
"The Sky can harmonize — petrify, absorb, and seal. The Storm can disintegrate — aggregate, decay, and break. The Rain can tranquilize — slow, weaken, and pacify. The Sun can activate — heal, stimulate, and strengthen. The Cloud can propagate — increase, replicate, and leach. The Mist can construct — fool, repair, and overwhelm. What can Lightning do?"
She laughed as she sat underneath a smaller dome that exploded melted metal splashed against. It was so lucky that she acted quickly enough to cover herself from the toxic splatter. Electric blue eyes gleamed as she allowed the dome to fall slowly outwards and then stared at the little crater she created in the yard.
"Lightning can harden — It can shield, pierce, and electrify."
Dying Will Flames were high density forms of energy refined from one's life force. It resonated with one's emotions and possessed destructive properties along with real flame ones. But the most important thing was that they were energy.
Energy that could be condensed — hardened into electrical energy.
Thus, uncontrolled… It can also loosen energy that would lash out. Dogs howled and cats meowed in irritation at the static in the air, while Kana finally turned to look at the windows. They shattered amidst the explosion and resulting gusts.
"There is no way I can clean that in time."
Her eyes drooped from the energy use and she idly tossed away her afro to touch her beautiful black hair, "At least one thing's gone right…"
Kana froze. Then she remembered. Future Lambo's hair was not fully straight.
"Ah… What did Howl say?"
His hair was semi-curly.
"I see no point in living if I can't be beautiful…"
…And so, Furi Kana fainted.